The Max series The Penguin has just aired its season finale, and it’s the most heavily streamed title on the platform at the moment. That’s for good reason — Colin Farrell is phenomenal in this follow-up to Matt Reeves’ The Batman, and the show has a secret weapon with the staggeringly good Cristin Milioti. It was a bold direction to take The Penguin character in an extremely different from previous depictions of the character, especially the most iconic one — Danny DeVito in Batman Returns. His raw fish-eating, long-nosed, terrifying take on The Penguin remains one of the best portrayals of a Batman villain. So how does Farrell hold up to that? DeVito spoke with MovieWeb about it while promoting his warm new family comedy, A Sudden Case of Christmas.
“Oh, Colin’s giving me a run for my money,” said DeVito with a smile in his trademark growl. “And it’s totally different. I’ve been watching it. I haven’t watched the whole thing, but I watched most of what was out… and you know, it’s really good.” He continued, stressing a key difference between their portrayals:
“I understand the trauma of going through, like, hours and hours of makeup, and you’re transforming yourself. It’s different with me, because wherever I go, I’m Oswald Cobblepot, you know, people could see me. You can’t hide me. You know what I mean, that kind of thing. Colin could go anywhere he wants with that makeup and go sit in a restaurant. They wouldn’t go, ‘Hey it’s Colin Farrell, hey,’ you know, he doesn’t look anything like what he did in The Penguin. I mean, it’s hard to hide me, even with pounds of makeup as The Penguin.”
“But I think we both really do a substantially good job with Oswald from different angles. You know, mine had no Italian overtones of mafia or guns in that way,” added DeVito. “I was just the, you know, egomaniac trying to take over the city. I was, you know, a misunderstood bird, a bird who cannot fly. So mine is a totally different character than in The Penguin with Colin, which is good. It’s good. Here you got a gangster penguin. It’s fine, and he’s doing a great job.”
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Farrell returned the compliments to DeVito months earlier in a MovieWeb interview promoting his show, Sugar. We asked Farrell about his favorite Batman characters, and Colin Farrell told us:
“And I love Danny [DeVito] of course, as the Penguin.
I grew up watching Tim Burton’s films
,” continued Farrell. “But I go back with the show as well, to Adam West and Burgess Meredith, the first Penguin I ever saw. You know, there are so many of them, who my favorite is, I don’t know.
I have a soft spot for Michael Keaton
because I was like, maybe 10 or 11 or 12 when I saw that, and I was just obsessed with it, you know?”
You can stream The Penguin on Max here, and rent or buy A Sudden Case of Christmas on the usual digital platforms like Apple TV and Prime Video.
Created by Lauren LeFranc, The Penguin is a crime-drama spin-off television series of 2022’s film The Batman. Set shortly after the events of The Batman, Oz Cobb, A.K.A. the Penguin, begins his rise in the underworld of Gotham City as he contends with the daughter of his late boss, Carmine Falcone, for control of the crime family’s empire.
- Cast
- Colin Farrell , Cristin Milioti , Rhenzy Feliz , Michael Kelly , Shohreh Aghdashloo , Deirdre O’Connell , Clancy Brown , James Madio , Scott Cohen , Michael Zegen , Carmen Ejogo , Theo Rossi
- Seasons
- 1
- Studio
- Prequel
- The Batman (2022)
- Story By
- Bill Finger, Bob Kane
- Writers
- Lauren LeFranc
- Franchise(s)
- Batman , DC Elseworlds
- Showrunner
- Lauren LeFranc